SPE 131829

A Case Study of High-Pressure, Light-Oil Steam Flooding in A LowPermeability Reservoir

Wu Shuhong, SPE member, Zhang zhongyi, Wu Yongbin, Shen Dehuang, RIPED, PetroChina Company Limited,
Qian Yu, Daqing Oil Field Company Limited, Qiao Fujun, Liaohe Heavy Oil Company
Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers
This paper was prepared for presentation at the CPS/SPE International Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition in China held in Beijing, China, 810 June 2010.
This paper was selected for presentation by a CPS/SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or
members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is
restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract
Steam flooding in heavy-oil sands has been well characterized over last decades as a mature technology, and while steam has been
injected into light-oil, low-permeability sands almost as long, the mechanisms and effectiveness of this process are much less
understood because of the complexities of flow in these sands and high pressure steam injection. This paper examines thermal
recovery in such reservoir using both physical and numerical simulation and also describes the performance of pilot test in Daqing
oil field.
In regard to recovery mechanisms, wettability alteration, interfacial tension and threshold pressure gradient decline contribute to
higher oil displacement and swept efficiency. Vaporization, viscosity reduction, thermal expansion and relative permeability
variation accounts for over three quarters of incremental recovery in steam flooding. As a consequence of high-pressure steam
flooding five fluid banks formsteam bank, distillate bank, hot water bank, condensate bank and cold water bank, in which steam
bank is much smaller than high temperature region. Hence, it is substantially different from shallow heavy-oil situation where both
of them are almost similar in size.
This paper details a pilot test in a low-permeability reservoir with depth of 800m, an average permeability around 8 md and a
typical porosity of 16%, oil viscosity roughly of 40mpa.s. Waterflood began in 1990 and suffered from low injectivity, poor
sweep, and injector-to-producer linkage. These factors tended to degrade waterdloods effectiveness. An attempt of steamlfood has
been used to enhance recovery since 2005. The pilot test shows promising results. The response to steam injection is prompt and
significant. The injectivity is doubled and productivity is almost tripled. The oil-steam-ratio is around 0.3. The incremental
recovery is predicted to be over 10%. And now, field operator is considering expanding the pilot program to a much larger region.
Introduction
Steam injection, one of commercial technologies widely used to develop heavy oil reservoir, has brought reservoir
engineers attention to improve performance of low permeability, light oil reservoir and enhance its oil recovery. There are several
successful pilot tests of steam injection in the light oil reservoir1 such as Wilmington oil field2 (1981), Brea field (1973)3, Elk
Hill(1987)4, Ruhlermoor(1987)1, Minas(1997) 1.
Steam flooding in heavy-oil sands has been well characterized over last decades as a mature technology, and while steam has been
injected into light-oil, low-permeability sands almost as long, the mechanisms and effectiveness of this process are much less
understood because of the complexities of flow in these sands and high pressure steam injection.
C reservoir, one of Daqing oil field, is a low permeability reservoir with high wax content and oil viscosity about 20cp and is
developed by 10-years waterflooding with only 10% oil recovered from the reservoir. Challenges were multifaceted in this
complex low-permeable reservoir. Some were related to the heterogeneous nature of the reservoir, limited sand continuity,
unfavorable mobility for the ongoing waterflooding, associated high threshold pressure gradient and poor injection response.
In order to improve the production performance, steam injection was carried out in 2005. The pilot test shows promising results.
The response to steam injection is prompt and significant.
The full-lenth paper details the results of experiment work studying the steam flooding process to evaluate its potential as a
feasible EOR technique for a low permeability reservoir, as well as the production history of water flooding, its performance and
its challenges, and, the pilot test of steam flooding in C reservoir.

SPE 131829

Geological Characteristics
C field, located in Daqing oil field, consists of sandstones, siltstones, and shales deposited in a complex, fluvial-dominated delta
system, which has 15 deposite units and F62 F71 F 1 are the main producing reservoirs, which consist of massive
sandstone with width from 1000m to 1500m and thickness of 2 to 4m (see Fig. 1), low permeable sandstone units interspersed with
shales with the permeability of 1md to 20md and porosity of 12% to 18% (see Fig.2). The fracture is closed in the initial reservoir
with the direction of northeast 85o and hydraulically fracture is in the direction of northeast 97.5o.
C601 reservoir is 770m~880m in depth with reservoir temperature of 55 and reservoir pressure of 8.4MPa. The crude oil is
character by high wax content and high wax precipitation point which are 15.9~25.9% and 49~52, respectively. At reservoir
temperature, the oil viscosity is roughly 16~95mpa.s and 40mpa.s in average. Oil viscosity is sensitive to the temperature and it
decreases to 1.5mpa.s at 200 (see Fig.3).

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Fig.1 Main Producing Zones of C Field

mPa.s
Oil
Viscosity, mpa.s

1000

100

40

10

1
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

220

Fig.2 Distribution of Porosity and Permeability

Fig.3 Oil Viscosity vs. Temperature

Development History of Waterflooding

History
Initially, C601 reservoir, one of blocks of C field, was produced under primary mechanisms (mainly natural depletion) with the
initial per-well daily oil production of 3.9t/d until the mid-1990s when a waterflooding was initiated. After 9 months of
waterflooding, the producers responded to water injection and oil production went to the peak of 2.7t/d after 2~3 years water
injection. However, much inefficiency remained, which made it difficult to obtain better performance. The ultimate oil recovery of
waterflooidng is predicted to be 25.85%. After 10 years development, only 10.28% of oil in place has been produced.
Key Factors to Influence Waterflooding Behaviors
Production performance of waterflooding has been analyzed to determine the key factors related to the past behaviors of the water
flooding. For C601 reservoir, waterflooding has been a challenge because of the very heterogeneous nature of the reservoirs, sandcontinuity complexity, oil viscosity, low permeability, high initial pressure gradient, and, low water injectivity.
Low permeability, high oil viscosity result in large flow resistance in the reservoir, the obvious phenomenon is that water
injectivity is low, only 1.1t/d.m. Under extremely high injection pressure about 25MPa, it is still difficult to inject enough water to
the reservoir and built up the pressure system between injector and producer.
In order to improve the production performance, the key answers are to increase the injectivity, built up pressure system between
injector and producer and to enhance the oil recovery. One of feasible ways is steam injection as the steam injection is mature in
developing heavy oil reservoir.

SPE 131829

Mechanisms of Steam Flooding in Low Permeable Light-oil Reservoir

Displacements Banks of Steam Flooding
Steam flooding is multi-well, pattern drive process wherein steam is injected into the reservoir using a system of injectors and
producers. For traditional steamflooding in heavy oil reservoir or light-oil reservoir, as the steam is injected into the injector, an
expanding steam bank is formed. The hot condensate leaving the steam bank creates a distillate bank and hot waterflood effect
ahead of the steam zone. As the condensate cools down to the formation temperature, it gives rise to a condensate bank and cold
waterflood in the remaining area. Thus, the steam drive process consists of a steam bank, a distillate bank, a hot waterflood bank, a
condensate bank and a cold waterflood in the remaining pattern volume, as displayed in Fig.4(a) (K. C. Hong, 2001).
For low permeable light-oil reservoir, especially C601 reservoir, the injection pressure is about 18~19MPa in the steamflooding
because the high reservoir pressure and low permeability. Thus, steam bank around the injector is near the critical condition and
steamflooding in C601 reservoir is a pseudo-critical steamflooding running under the pressure of 18~19MPa. Under such high
pressure, the steam is character by high heat capacity and small specific volume. The steamflooding has a small steam chamber but
large high-temperature zone, which is different from that of traditional steamflooding , displayed in Fig.4 (b), Fig.5 (a) and (b).
Distillate Bank

INJECTOR

T,oF

Steam
Chamber
INJECTOR

So
1.00

H-So Zone

O
ilS
a
tu
r
a
tio
n

So,%

0.80

So

0.60

0.40

0.20

0.00
0

From Injector to Producer

(a)

20

40

60

80

100

Dis tance (m )

Distance
m

High-So Zone

31
-x

Rb

30
-R

INJECTOR

PRO1

40
-R
b2
67

3Rb
26
7

IN
J31
-x

Rb
26
6

PRO

31
Rb
26
6
3
40
-R

30
-R
b2
65

IN
J31
-x
B4
-3
-B
63
66

64

31
-R
b2
65

IN
J2Rb
26
4
30
-R
b2
64

INJECTOR

b2
66

B4
-3
-B
63

30
-R
b2
65
31
-R
b2
65

2Rb

30
-R

2
IN
J2Rb
26
4
30
-R
b2
64
b2
64

20

120
-R
b2
63
2jR
b2
63

20
-R
b2
62
b2
62

2R

1
20
-R
b2
63
2jR
b2
63

20
-R
b2
62
Rb
26
2

1Rb
26
1

B4
10
-R
-1
-B
W
61
IN
J1xR
11
b2
62
1Rb
26
1

Sg

61

B4
10
-R
-1
-B
W
6
1
IN
J1xR
1
b2
62

(a)
(b)
Fig.4 Displacement Bank(A Steam Bank/B Distillate Bank/C Hot Water Bank/D Condensate Bank/E Cold Water Bank)
(a): Previous work, from literature; (b):Pseudo-critical Steamflooding, from this work

(a)
(b)
Fig.5 Temperature (up) and Steam Chamber (down) Distribution of Steamflooding
(a): traditional steamflooding
(b):Pseudo-critical Steamflooding, from this work

Mechanisms of Steam Flooding in Low Permeable Light-oil Reservoir

Since the first light-oil steam flood field trials was initiated at the Brea Field near Los Angles in the 1960s, significant detail has
been paid to steamflooding recovery mechanisms. Wu7 presented a critical review and identified the following, thorough, but not
exhaustive, list: (1) viscosity reduction; (2) distillation (vaporization); (3) distillate (in-situ solvent) drive; (4) Steam (gas) drive;
(5) Thermal expansion; (6) Relative permeability and capillary pressure variation; and (7) Gravity segregation.
Figure 6 displays schematically how the most significant mechanisms vary with oil reservoirs containing viscous oil. For the heavy
oil, the main objective of steamflooding is to increase oil production by reducing oil viscosity; thus, allowing oil drainage at
significantly increased rates. However, for the light oil, the main objective is to reduce remaining oil saturation below that obtained

SPE 131829

by waterflooding. For the low permeability light oil reservoir, there are other objectives such as quick pressure build-up between
injector and producers and high pressure steam drive. The following displays the main mechanisms of steam flooding in the low
permeability light-oil reservoir.
Distillation
Distillation is one of key mechanisms of steam flooding, especially in the light-oil reservoir. Figure 7 displays the oil distillation
of C601 reservoir vs. the temperature. At the temperature of 200 and 270, about 31.5% and 49.5% oil are vaporized,
respectively. Through oil vaporization, steam flooding can reduce the remaining oil saturation to 10%, far less than that obtained
by waterflooding.
60

50

40

Oil
Distillation,%

Vapouration

Viscosity
Decline

30
120
20

200

Wetibilty

250
270

10

Thermal
Expension

0
0

LO

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

3
/cm3)
Vw/Voi=/cm
Vw/Voi (cm3/cm3)

HO

Fig. 6 Mechanisms of Steamflonding in LO and HO

Fig.7 Oil Distillation vs. Vw/voi Curves

Thermal Expansions
Thermal expansions play important role in enhancing oil recovery of steam flooding. For C601 reservoir, the thermal expansion of
crude oil is about 910-4-1. Thermal expansions of crude oil together with rock and water contribute to 4~5% oil recovery
increment. In fractured system or in low permeable fractured reservoir, heat plays another role in the steam flooding besides
thermal expansion, that is, thermal conduction allows heat to sweep areas of the reservoir not contacted by steam. In this case,
thermal expansion is an important recovery mechanism.
Wettability Alteration and Interfacial Tension Decline under High Temperature
With the increase of temperature, the rock wettablity alters gradually, from the strong oil-wet to weak oil-wet or water-wet. For
C601 reservoir, Table 1 details the wettability alteration with the temperature. As it shows, the rock is medium oil-wet under the
initial reservoir temperature. It is going to be weak water-wet and water-wet at the temperature of 200 and 270, respectively.
Also, the interfacial tension decline is seen with the temperature increase. At the temperature of 270, the interfacial tension is
likely to decrease to -2 or -3 grade.
Tab. 1

Wettability Index vs. Temperature

Medium Wet
Weakly OilWeakly
Medium
Wet
Water-wet

Wetbility
Index

Strong Oilwet

Oil-Wet

-1.0~-0.7

-0.7~-0.3

-0.3~-0.1

-0.1~0.1

Connect
Angle

180~153

153~117

117~99

99~81

Initial
200
270

WaterWet

Strongly
WaterWet

0.1~0.3

0.3~0.7

0.7~1.0

81~63

63~27

27~0

-0.0200
0.2015
0.3816

Thanks wettability alteration and interfacial tension decline under high temperature, as well as the oil vaporization, the oil
displacement efficiency in the steam flood is far higher than that of water flooding, which also cause a reduction in the relative
permeability to water and an increase in the oil relative permeability, see figure 8.

SPE 131829

1
Krw-55

0.8

Krw-120

0.7

Kro-120

0.6

Krw-270

0.6

Kro-270

0.5

0.5

Krw-200

0.4

0.4

0.3

0.3

0.2

0.2

0.1

F23

SF
WF

F331

0.0

0.1

45.1%

34.0%

F21

0.7

Kro-200

Krw

Kro Kro

0.8

F171

0.9

Kro-55

Krw

0.9

0.5

0
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

t/d
Productivity,
t/d

Sw
Sw

Fig. 8 Relative Permeability Curves of Different Temperature

Fig. 9 Productivity of Different Layers in WF and SF

Gravity Segregation
Gravity override or segregation of steam plays important role in the thick light-oil reservoir. Under favorable conditions, such as
relatively low oil viscosity and high vertical permeability, gravity override can provide an efficient displacement mechanism: the
injected steam segregates upward, and spreads areally. The steam zone grows downward as injection continues. So, it is one of the
prime factors in overcoming viscous fingering to achieve an efficient displacement process and oil recoveries of 60%.
For low permeability reservoir, it is believed that gravity segregation of steam is a little weaker than that of the high permeable
reservoir because of the low velocity of steam movement and small steam volume in the low permeable reservoir, also, always in
the high-pressure steamflooding. However, gravity segregation is still observed in the high-pressure steamflooing in C601
reservoir. Fig. 9 displays the productivity of different layers in the waterflooding (WF) and steamflooding (SF), which shows that
the upper layer F171 and F21 are developed more efficiently in the steamflooding than that of waterflooding.
Threshold Pressure Gradient Decline under High Temperature
Laboratory work shows that high temperature can see good results to improve the injectivity (Fig. 10), which is a challenge faced
by water flooding in the low an extra-low permeable reservoir. Two series of experiments were carried out in a core tube flood at
the temperature of 25 and 200. At the same flow velocity, the pressure differential under temperature of 200 is only one
fourth of that of 25, which shows that the high temperature improves the injectivity of the low permeable reservoir.
10

25

0.8cm3/min

120
0.8cm3/min

0.6cm3/min
0.5cm3/min

Oil Recovery
Increment, %

0.6cm3/min

7.6
6.2

6
4

3.2

1.3

0.5cm3/min

1.5

0
Vaporization
Reduction Thermal
Expansion
Viscosity

Fig.10 Displacement Pressure Differential vs. Temperature and Velocity

Gravity
Segregation
Others

Fig. 11 Mechanisms of Steamflooding

Based on the above mechanisms, series experiments were carried out to interpret the contribution of each mechanism, which is
shown in figure 11. Vaporization, thermal expansion, and viscosity reduction are the three important mechanisms in steam
flooding in light oil reservoir, which contribute to over three quarters of incremental recovery in steam flooding.
Pilot Test
Introduction
In order to improve the production performance, steamflooding pilot test was carried out since 2005 in the 119-52 well groups.
And 2 years later, 2 other well groups were added to the pilot test. The 3 well groups pilot test covers 0.73km2 in the area, the main
target producing zones are FI62, FI71 and FII1. The OOIP of it is about 0.64 million tons. There are 3 injectors and 14 producers in
the pilot test, see Figure 12. Before the steamflooding the total liquid production was 32.7t/d and the oil production was 29.6t/d.

SPE 131829

Fig.12 Map of the Pilot Test of Steamflooding

Performance
In 2005, steam injection began in well 119-52. For the first month, the injection was about 65t/d with the injection pressure of
around 18.5MPa. After 1 months injection, the injection rate was increased to 84t/d and the injection pressure increase to
18.5Mpa. The steam temperature was about 330~350 with steam quality of 50%70%. Compared with waterflooding, the
injectivity of steamflooding increased greatly, about 6 times of that of waterflooding. After 5 months injection, producers saw the
response to steam injection and oil production increased to be 2~3 times of that before steam injection (Fig. 12).
In 2006, there were several months that steam injection stopped because of the steam generator repairing. During this period, the
production declined to 16t/d from the first peak of 28t/d in a year. In 2007, steam was re-injected to the injector and the oil
production increased day to day and increased to the second peak of 27t/d.
In 2007, 2 well groups near the well pattern 119-52 were added to the pilot test and 3 wells were used to inject the steam with the
injection rate of 160~180t/d in total. Three months later the oil production was nearly twice of that before 2 injectors went to steam
injection. Unfortunately, in the end of 2007 the generator worked poorly and went to repair again. There was no steam injection for
more than 5 months. As a result, the oil production declined by 40% in half a year. Once the steam was re-injected into the
reservoir, the oil production went up again, see Fig.13. Compare with waterflooding, the production of steamflooding was 6 times
of that of waterflooding.
Up to now, the pilot test has shown promising results. The response to steam injection is prompt and significant. The injectivity is
doubled and productivity is almost tripled. The oil-steam-ratio is around 0.3. The incremental recovery is predicted to be over
10%. And now, field operator is considering expanding the pilot program to a much larger region.
85 87 88

84 85 83 82 88 88 88 87 84 85 85

56 56 56 56 55 55 54 54
55 54
54

60

m3

(t)
Daily Injection,
t/d

65

Daily Injection, t/d

Injection
Profile of Well 119-52
119-52

Daily
Injection, t/d
120

250

18.2

18.4

18.8 19.3

19 19

18.6

20

18.5

19.4 19.4

18.9

19.1

25

19.2 19.119.2

Water cut

26.7

11

2006

11

2007

Production, t/d

27.8 29.1 25.9

25.2
23.3

20

2005.5

Production
Profile of Pilot Test (7 producers)

45.3

44.8

47.2

48.4

/
35

32.7

46.5

46.5

30.7

43.6

28.3

29.6

32.4

41

37.4

Ql

43.4

30

23.9 24
20
19.3
20.7
17.9 16.5 19.4
17.2 31.1 30.8
26.9 28.5 25.4
12.5 12.613.4 16.5
24.3
23.2 23.424.3
22.9
19.1
10
17.4 16.4 19 19.5
10
12 12.3
11.8
30

19 19 18.919.119.119.119.119.119.2

10

55

Water
cut, %

Production, t/d

Qo

33.2 32.2

20

15

119-52
Production Profile of Well pattern 119-52

Ql

Steam
Generator
Repairing

18.618.8 19 19 19.2 19 19 19.1 19 19 19

MPa

18.7

10

40

t
Injection pressure,
Mpa
MPa

Injection
pressure, Mpa
MPa

Steam
Generator
Repairing

25

Injection pressure, Mpa

180 185 190 185 185 185 185 187 190

170 169 168 170 165 171 168 165 168 168 168

100

Steam
Generator
Repairing

15

200
150

Qo

41.5 46.4

33.7

30.8

41.742.1

36.5
28.9

46.9

28.5

28.1

15
2007

10

11

12

2008

10

11

12

2009

11

()

Fig. 12 Profiles of Well Pattern of 119-52

Fig. 13 Profiles of Pilot Test (7 producers)

Conclusions
As a mature manner to develop the heavy oil reservoir, steamflooding has been carried out to develop light-oil, low-permeability
reservoir to improve the production performance. Its mechanisms and effectiveness of this process are much less understood
because of the complexities of flow in these sands and high pressure steam injection. This paper examines thermal recovery in
such reservoir using both physical and numerical simulation. In regard to recovery mechanisms, wettability alteration, interfacial
tension and threshold pressure gradient decline contribute to higher oil displacement and swept efficiency. Vaporization, viscosity
reduction, thermal expansion and relative permeability variation accounts for over three quarters of incremental recovery in steam
flooding. As a consequence of high-pressure steam flooding five fluid banks formsteam bank, distillate bank, hot water bank,

SPE 131829

condensate bank and cold water bank, in which steam bank is much smaller than high temperature region. Hence, it is substantially
different from shallow heavy-oil situation where both of them are almost similar in size. The paper also describes the performance
of pilot test in a low permeable reservoir in Daqing oil field which began in 2005. The pilot test shows promising results. The
response to steam injection is prompt and significant. The injectivity is doubled and productivity is almost tripled. The oil-steamratio is around 0.3. The incremental recovery is predicted to be over 10%. And now, field operator is considering expanding the
pilot program to a much larger region.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank PetroChina Company Limited for allowing the publication of this paper. Appreciation is also
extended to the following individuals: Shi Lianjie, Zhao Xin, Daqing Oil Field Company Limited.
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Alfredo Perez-Perez, Marjorie Gamboa, Cesar Ovalles: Benchmarking of Steamflood Field Projects in Light/Medium Crude
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Jung, K.D.: Unconventional Pilot Steam Drive, Tar V Sand, Long Beach Unit, Wilmington Field, CA. SPE12775, 1984.
Volek, C., Pryor, J.: Steam Distillation Drive, Brea Field, California. Journal Petroleum Technnology, August, 899-906,
1973
Julio G. Estremadoyro: The Use of a Simulation Model to Optimize Reservoir Management in a Very Mature 24Z Reservoir,
Elk Hills, California. SPE 68843, 2001.
Wu shushong: Steam Distilation in light oil reservoir, Specail Oil Reservoir, 2001.
Ruiqi, Y., Shengzhen, Y., Zhengying, Z., and et al Tests of Conversion into Steam Stimulation Following Water Flooding in
Karamay Conglomerate Oilfield, paper SPE 50894, 1998.
Wu, C.H: A Critial Review of Steamflood Mechanisms, SPE 6550, presented at SPE 47th Annual Califonia Regional Meeting,
Bakersfield, CA (April 13-15, 1977).
Wooten, R. Case History of a Successful Steamflood Project-Loco Field, paper SPE 7548, 1978.
Chu, C., State-of-Art Review of Steamflood Field Projects, Journal of Petroleum Technology, October 1985, 1887-1902.